Committee Kills 'Photo-red' Bill

Critics Believe Cameras Invasive

RICHMOND — Motorists who run red lights on the Peninsula had reason to smile Friday: A House panel blocked legislation that would have allowed local governments to photograph them in the act.

The 12-9 vote to kill the proposal came despite pleas from police officers and insurance industry representatives who said using cameras to nab red-light runners saves lives and money.

"We think it's been a very successful program," said Vienna Police Chief Bob Carlisle, whose town installed the cameras as part of a pilot program two years ago.

Critics say the cameras smack of Big Brother government, and they question the effectiveness.

The cameras have enjoyed wide support on the traffic-heavy Peninsula, but the General Assembly has rebuffed requests to install them. Hampton and Newport News, as well as York and James City counties, have tried and failed.

Friday's legislation, sponsored by Del. Michele B. McQuigg, R-Prince William, would have allowed any locality in the state to erect the cameras at dangerous intersections. Currently, only a handful of local governments have been granted the authority, most of them in Northern Virginia.

Carlisle said his town installed the cameras in 1999 and began using them in 2000. That year, they issued about 4,000 citations for running red lights at three intersections. Last year, that number dropped to about 1,400. He said the presence of the cameras has had a ripple effect elsewhere in town.

Stephen Oesch, senior vice president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, dismissed critics who say the cameras are overly intrusive. The cameras are activated only when motorists run red lights. They don't operate all the time.

"These types of cameras are not surveillance cameras," he said.

Agreeing was Bryan Porter, an assistant professor of psychology at Old Dominion University who studies traffic safety. "Behavior in public space that affects our safety should not be protected," he said.

While critics say localities want the cameras to generate money from citations, the cameras end up saving money by reducing accidents, Porter said.

Those arguments did not sway a majority of lawmakers on the conservative Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee. The panel, which includes many rural lawmakers, often views additional restrictions on drivers as an affront to civil liberties.

Last year, for example, the committee endorsed a measure to abolish the requirement that adults on motorcycles wear helmets. The legislation failed on the House floor by a 2-1 margin. The same committee has opposed tougher seat-belt laws.

Friday's close vote could doom chances of "photo-red" legislation this year. The Senate on Friday passed a bill that authorized it in the town of Blacksburg, which could be amended to include other localities. However, that bill goes before Militia, Police and Public Safety.